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A few random RAW questions...

Maybe this should go in the RAW sticky thread but I doubt there is a clear answer and I'd like to hear about any workable houserules used by you lot.

Fight to the bitter end: Is there any class ability/feat/spell (but not race dependent) that allows someone to take real damage rather then sub duel? Logic being there are some people (and even more so in a very Good V Evil game like D&D) who would rather die then be captured by their enemies. Is there any RAW that stops a person being knocked out/easily knocked out?

Ah-HA! Magic is that way! Other then hiding stuff behind Lead/think stone and such. Is there a way to make a spell not glow under detect magic/arcane sight? Make magic items not glow of magic or illusion walls glow with illusion school? Meta magic or ability though more for permanent enchanted things rather then one off spells.

Go for the EYES BOO! Can't seem to find rules for aiming for body parts other then hydra heads. PC wanted to know if they could hack off an evil dragons wings (sunder) mid fight so it couldn't fly away.

If no clear RAW answers for these any half workable homebrew suggestions would be welcome

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Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by Ranting Fool

Ah-HA! Magic is that way! Other then hiding stuff behind Lead/think stone and such. Is there a way to make a spell not glow under detect magic/arcane sight? Make magic items not glow of magic or illusion walls glow with illusion school? Meta magic or ability though more for permanent enchanted things rather then one off spells.

Magic aura will do it.

Originally Posted by Ranting Fool

Go for the EYES BOO! Can't seem to find rules for aiming for body parts other then hydra heads. PC wanted to know if they could hack off an evil dragons wings (sunder) mid fight so it couldn't fly away.

As far as I know, there are no called shots in 3.5e. There are some ambush feats that do similar things, but no RAW way to hack off dragon wings.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by Ranting Fool

Fight to the bitter end: Is there any class ability/feat/spell (but not race dependent) that allows someone to take real damage rather then sub duel? Logic being there are some people (and even more so in a very Good V Evil game like D&D) who would rather die then be captured by their enemies. Is there any RAW that stops a person being knocked out/easily knocked out?

I was thinking 'bout the frenzied berserker's deathless frenzy. But I suppose you can end your frenzy with positive HP, but "negative" nonletal damage...

Edit: with a contingency spell, you can easily choose to die, if someone beats you unconscious.

Last edited by Killer Angel; 2012-11-05 at 06:25 AM.

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Very well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. (W.Whitman)

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Originally Posted by Kaiyanwang

Great analysis KA. I second all things you said

Originally Posted by JoeYounger

Great analysis KA, I second everything you said here.

Originally Posted by Ryu_Bonkosi

If I have a player using Paladin in the future I will direct them to this. Good job.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye

I don't think it's in Pathfinder, but it was something that existed in older editions of D&D. It might have been just an optional rule back then, too, I'm not sure.

Correct on both counts. There were several iterations of called-shot rules in D&D's earlier editions; none of them were hugely successful because it's very difficult to craft such a rule that doesn't defeat the purpose of the AC system, hit points, or both.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

My group uses them, but it might be slightly different in rules of past editions than how we use them

Essentially, -4 on attack roll to attack body part ( even chop off head ). Assuming hands, arms, feet, etc. were targeted instead of head AND assuming that you didn't chop it off, more damage meant higher penalties for trying to use that body part. Other possible side effects were in accordance to weapon used and damage done.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

homebrew feat:

Sunder limb (Fighter)
Prerequisites: improved sunder
benefit: you can make a sunder attempt against the limbs and head of a creature,as normal. use the creatures full normal AC against the attack roll, but treat a limb as 2 size categories smaller than the creature, and the head as 3 size categories smaller. a limb or head has HP equal to 1/5 of the creature's, and successfully severing it deals 1/2 the limb's HP to the creature.

78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

Where did you start yours?

The PCs were already a special forces type unit in a kingdom's military, so the campaign started in the general's office.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by lunar2

homebrew feat:

Sunder limb (Fighter)
Prerequisites: improved sunder
benefit: you can make a sunder attempt against the limbs and head of a creature,as normal. use the creatures full normal AC against the attack roll, but treat a limb as 2 size categories smaller than the creature, and the head as 3 size categories smaller. a limb or head has HP equal to 1/5 of the creature's, and successfully severing it deals 1/2 the limb's HP to the creature.

So for a 3 or so penalty to hit you can both behead a guy and maintain him alive!

Re: A few random RAW questions...

medium creature's head has a +4 AC over the creature itself. also, removing the head generally kills the creature unless they either have regeneration or they don't need their head. the losing HP for lost limbs was meant for arms/legs/wings/tails, not usually heads.

78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

Where did you start yours?

The PCs were already a special forces type unit in a kingdom's military, so the campaign started in the general's office.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by lunar2

medium creature's head has a +4 AC over the creature itself. also, removing the head generally kills the creature unless they either have regeneration or they don't need their head. the losing HP for lost limbs was meant for arms/legs/wings/tails, not usually heads.

I know :p But just you wait until RAW lovers pop.
Plus, +4 ac for instakill is really, really, really, REALLY cheap.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by lunar2

medium creature's head has a +4 AC over the creature itself. also, removing the head generally kills the creature unless they either have regeneration or they don't need their head. the losing HP for lost limbs was meant for arms/legs/wings/tails, not usually heads.

This is what I was talking about when I said that called shot systems usually invalidate AC, HP, or both. In this case, for a penalty that's less than an iterative attack I get to treat every opponent as if it has only 20% of its normal hit points. That is almost always going to be worth the penalty, making hit points largely irrelevant for all but the most heavily-armored opponents.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

HP is largely meaningless anyway. anyone trying to kill you with HP damage is going to do enough damage to kill you in a single round, or possibly even a single attack. that's just a bug of the 3.5 system.

78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

Where did you start yours?

The PCs were already a special forces type unit in a kingdom's military, so the campaign started in the general's office.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

Originally Posted by lunar2

HP is largely meaningless anyway. anyone trying to kill you with HP damage is going to do enough damage to kill you in a single round, or possibly even a single attack. that's just a bug of the 3.5 system.

This is only true at certain levels of op, and can arguably be remedied to some extent with houserules. Exacerbating the problem with houserules, though, seems highly undesirable.

Re: A few random RAW questions...

he wanted either official rules, or failing that, homebrew, that allowed limbs to be severed. i gave him a feat that did so. that it falls into the same problems as every other rule, feat, or class feature that tries to do so is simply because doing so is horribly hard to balance.

78% of DM's started their first campaign in a tavern. If you're one of the 22% that didn't, copy and paste this into your signature.

Where did you start yours?

The PCs were already a special forces type unit in a kingdom's military, so the campaign started in the general's office.

Knowledge (local) being trained only, and not a class skill for many classes, means that your average human may well not be able to identify other humans! This may explain the exceptional quantity of half-human hybrids.